It was a most moving experience for me to hear André De Groote perform Beethoven’s music. I first came into contact with him thanks to the Brussels Beethoven collector Jean van der Spek, as I had arranged a special exhibition of van der Spek’s collection in Beethoven’s birthplace, the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, and he had suggested that this should be followed by a Beethoven sonata cycle by a leading Belgian Beethoven interpreter. I gladly complied with this request, without knowing exactly where this would lead. I knew that André De Groote was an excellent pianist with a very broad repertoire, but I had no idea what was to come from this.

André De Groote has thus rendered a lasting service to the Beethoven-Haus and to its audiences. I am deeply pleased that the CD recordings made some years later are being reissued, and not simply out of gratitude for the impression that these concerts left at that time. I hope that they will be heard by many attentive listeners, and that these interpretations, imbued as they are with deep seriousness, great musical sovereignty and total service to the music, will have an effect that goes far beyond purely musical considerations.

Dr. Michael Ladenburger, Chief of the museum and curator of the collection of the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, rtd.